I. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to grass catchers and grass bags that attach to power lawn mowers.
II. Description of the Prior Art
The lawn mower consumer looks for convenience when selecting a mower. Therefore, an important consideration in grass catching mowers is the relative ease with which a full grass bag or full grass catcher can be emptied. Another feature of grass catching mowers, which is appreciated by many, is the positioning of the grass catcher directly to the rear of the mower. Such grass catchers and their associated mowers are often referred to as "rear baggers" in contrast to "side baggers", where a bag extends to the side of the mower and requires increased space for maneuvering the mower.
The rear bagger provides advantages in mowing along fences, buildings, garden borders and the like. Unfortunately, many rear bagging grass catchers are more difficult to unload than their side bagging counterparts due to the type of hardware that must be handled to detach the rear bag. Rear-mounted bags also tend to be larger than side-mounted bags and when the rear-mounted bag is full, it can be cumbersome to handle. And, many grass bags seen today, both rear-mounted and side-mounted, have zippers or other fasteners which must be undone each time the bag is emptied. This is because the inlet into the grass catcher is generally too small to also serve as the outlet for emptying the grass bag.
A typical sequence for unloading a rear bagging mower is as follows. First, the grass bag must be detached from the mower. Second, any zippers or other fasteners or latches must be undone to open a grass dumping exit. And third, the grass bag must be lifted and aligned over some type of bag for packaging the clipped vegetation for disposal.
There has long been a need to improve the design, construction and operation of rear-mounted grass catchers. Despite the appearance of a variety of such grass catchers in recent years, these have not greatly simplified the unloading operation mentioned above.